Two changes in the lineup for today’s 1 p.m. matinee against Colorado:

Thomas Greiss in, Antti Niemi out in goal.

Scott Gomez in, a player to be named later out on the fourth line.

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“We’re going to try and inject some fresh bodies and let them play,” said Coach Todd McLellan. No, you don’t want to change things too much on a team that has started 3-0, but scoring from the second and third lines has been non-existent so far and the Sharks didn’t sign Gomez to keep him on the bench.

“We’ve given him a heads-up that he will be playing,” McLellan said, preferring to not identify the player Gomez will be replacing because he wants to keep everybody sharp as long as possible.

“That’s not an unusual thing in the NHL,” he added. “You want to keep guys on their toes, especially this year with 48 games. If a guy goes two or three games and he doesn’t dress, that’s a big chunk of the season. They have to stay on their toes.”

McLellan did say he would keep the third line intact based on its play in Thursday night’s 5-3 victory over Phoenix. Expect Gomez to be used at center, but that doesn’t automatically mean Andrew Desjardins sits as Sharks forwards often play multiple roles.

Also expect to see Gomez on the second power-play unit.

Gomez said he expected to have the usual first-game nervousness, especially on a new team in a new conference.

“It takes a couple shifts” to get past that, he said, “but you still get excited. You’re still living the boyhood dream and every time you start a new year, it’s the same feeling. There’s some emotion, but you get rid of that right away.”

Gomez said he didn’t think the spotlight on him would be any bigger – think national attention, think Hockey Night in Canada reference — because of the circumstances that brought him to San Jose.

“No, there’s other stories that are more important,” he said. “It’s been awhile since all that went down. That’s past history.”

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*****Everybody knew the Sharks were revamping their penalty kill for this season after finishing 29th in the NHL. So far, there hasn’t been a vast improvement — San Jose is now 28th — but it is early. Despite the results, does McLellan see things he likes out there?

“We’re going to be evaluated on results. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “The number that shows up in the column at the end of the year is the number our staff is evaluated on. We’re also looking at the play of the penalty kill, some of the things we’re doing well, some of the things we’re not doing well.”

The one power play goal that his team gave up that bothered McLellan the most is the first, the one an uncovered Nail Yakupov zapped past Niemi in the Edmonton opener. The two that Phoenix scored — one after a valient PK effort while down two men for 1:49 before the Coyotes scored, the other that came after Niemi was knocked down — were not so troubling.

“I don’t know that we’re where we need to be yet,” McLellan said. “The cohesioin of four players jumping at the right times and going together is still something we’ve got to work through.”

McLellan noted that league-wide, power plays are having more early season success than penalty kills. He didn’t mention it, but that includes his own team as the Sharks are third in the NHL with a 38.9 success rate.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

The 5 on 3 kill was actually quite impressive and the goal Niemi gave up vs PHX (if its the one I’m thinking of) where he was bumped was a flukey type of thing.

Snow Shovel

Greiss is in? Good. Last year TMac wouldn’t change Niemi for anything. Is Todd mellowing?

12

looks like NJ Devils are doing just fine without Robinson, or Parise, or long gone gomez.

Beer League Rocks

Good to see Greiss is in the net. Look forward to seeing what Gomez has in the tank.
I think Marleau is on a roll. I say he gets another goal today. Thornton gets 2 assists. Sharks win….

JB

It seems to me the PK has improved at least somewhat but the sample size is too small this early in the season to really have sense of it or reflect that statistically.

We’ll probably see a little more lineup tinkering (even) after wins than we’re used to with this compressed schedule. I hope Gomez gets off to a good start. It would have been easier perhaps to start him in a game against an eastern conference team but obviously can’t happen with none scheduled this shortened season.
And it will be good to see Greiss in net again. I also feel McLellan is a bit too reluctant to play the backup – I understand the reasoning he’s stated, including that Nemo feels he play best when he plays often, but whoever is on the bench needs starts to be sharp, and I also think a team gets too comfortable playing in front of a starter and occasionally leaning on him (as they had to in the first period this year) with the same guy in nets every game….JOFO (just one fan’s opinion)

Solid period for the Sharks. Although Colorado had the better play until the Stuart hit caused them to battle penalties.

cz petr

Stuart AMAZING!!!

Andy

No HD broadcast?

SactoShark

Zero shots on goal for the 2 PKs

First player since 1918 to get 2 goals in first 4 games for Marleau

Beer League Rocks

Wow. I just couldn’t say I thought Marleau would get 2 goals today. Just a great powerplay. Gotta play the rest of the game.

SactoShark

BLR, you could of scored the second one from Jumbo!

Beer League Rocks

I wish.

Dirty

Patrick Marleau is a dirty, stinkin’ low-life bum!

He should’ve been traded at least 3 seasons ago.

Snow Shovel

Dirty, LOL!

Buddy Elf

The people who kept saying the window for this core group is closed… Sounds like just their mouths that are closed.

ZEKE

I can’t believe they gave Stuart 5 minutes for fighting. You call that fighting?

SactoShark

Reminds me of an old line: “I don’t get in fights. I just get beat up”

His faced looked better than I thought it would after.

Sharks looking very solid in all aspects of the game.

Already looking forward tomorrows game!

Canucks will be motivated to end this party!

ice

I don’t even argue with those types of posts anymore Buddy. Every team has ups and downs.

Sharks looking fantastic right now.

Buddy Elf

There’s nothin to even try to argue… It takes the Sharks being absolutely dominant for people to say good stuff yet the drama donkeys go on and on and on if the Sharks have a bad period, let alone a bad game or two. Makes no sense. Yet somehow they consider themselves the true fans?

Renoshark

Love the Stuart hit on Landeskog. And Greiss has been impressive. Hopefully TMac will be a bit quicker to go to Greiss if Niemi struggles down the road.

Stevo

Buddy Elf,

Don’t forget how one bad season had them calling for a fire sale…

SactoShark

It wasn’t even that bad.

Ask the fans in Toronto and Edmonton if they would of taken that season

Stevo

The word is out.. stop L1, so expect that to happen at some point. How L2&3 responds will determine much about where the Sharks end up in the standings.

Renoshark

Loved the Stuart hit on Landeskog. Greiss has obviously been impressive. Hopefully TMac is a bit quicker this season to go to Greiss if Niemi struggles down the road.

Stevo

SactoShark,

Well, the difference there would be that TOR & EDM didn’t make the Conf Finals in back-to-back seasons.

That seemed to be a big cause for disappointment for SJS fans.

Gunzo

One simple request. Ride the hot goaltender!

Stevo

McGone with 0 pts and only one shot the entire game.

(I still wish he was a Shark though)

Sacramento Jason

The PK looked great. Great team win.

Go Sharks!

SactoShark

McGone got a good hit on his BFF though!

Stevo

One could say Marleau’s got a big pair every night…

Stevo

SactoShark,

Agreed!

Stevo

Sharks with the NHL lead at this point. Also best point differential.

Let’s hope the BJ’s pull one out tonight over CHI.

Topcat

Great all round game…if I had to pick one thing, I would say we struggled to get out of our zone a fair amount, with some poor passes. Irwin does mishandle a bit, but shows such great promise, with an terrific shot that is always on goal, that I hope he continues to get playing time to improve. Gomez getting into the flow of things as well…like his hustle…we had a good fore check today, and Colo wasted 1/3 of almost every shift just getting it out of their own end…we really limited their offensive chances…Vancouver, with a days rest, will be a huge challenge. I did watch the Ducks-Van game though, and Van didn’t look all that sharp to me; it was more the Duck’s poor play and shooting themselves in the foot giving Van PPs.

Topcat

and yes, Stuart will probably get suspended…for the NHL to send a message, and as well the Shark’s have a long history of mostly un-called for suspensions (like Thornton’s).

Renoshark

I hope Shanny doesn’t overreact on the Stuart hit. We can’t afford to lose Stuart even for a game at this point. Hard hit but clean IMO.

Stevo

Topcat,

Agree that VAN looks shaky… and Stuey hit Landeskog’s head with his shoulder and just might get a vacation.

I also liked our 2-for-2 on the PK. Zeus dominant on FO’s and COL having previously killed 17 or 19 PP’s going into tonight’s game, yet Sharks smoked them in that dept..

beerslayer

I couldn’t watch the game, so I only listened to it on the radio, but Dan and Jamie seemed to think the Stuart hit on Landeskog was clean. From those out there who actually watched it: was it a clean hit or wasn’t it? What would make it suspension-worthy?

Renoshark

beerslayer:

Hit is borderline suspension. Could go either way. Hit wasn’t late and Stuart didn’t leave his feet or lead with an elbow. Landeskog also had his head down. But head appeared to get hit first. Also depends on whether Landeskog misses time due to hit but he did come back in game. Don’t think Stuart is a repeat offender either which is good. NHL is all about sending messages though.

AP

Marleau scored a PAT TRICK

Snow Shovel

Reno and Stevo – Good summation on the Stuart hit. Shoulder on helmet.

Marleau is listed as having been born in Aneroid, Saskatchewan. But I know that’s wrong. I have it on good authority that he was born on Krypton and his father is Jor-el.

Stevo

At some point, Snow Shovel, someone’s going to hide some kryptonite in Patty’s gear, and he-who-shall-not-be-named will be in here screaming about how useless #12 is…

Snow Shovel–actually it seems like Superman Marleau is from “Solenoid, Saskatchewan” —his stick is like a mega-magnet for the puck right now!!! There aren’t enough Hockey superlatives to describe his offensive play. Would be interested to hear what JR has to say about it! Actually, no I wouldn’t–I never enjoy listening self-absorbed gas bags!

Bring on the Canucks!

Stevo

I believe Owen Nolan had 8 goals in 8 games to start the ’99 season.

Marleau torched that record, eh?

Jeeper

I love this new #12; so much better than the one we had before! 2 more goal mouth goals. He’s as speedy as the previous occupant of that sweater, but is willing to get his nose dirty to get goals. I vote we keep him around.

On the Stuart hit, Landeskog dropped his chin as Stuart was lining him up. I have a sneaking suspicion that he knew he was going to get drilled, and was hoping to get a call on Stuart for a bad check. Wouldn’t surprise me if Stuey gets hit with a couple games, though he doesn’t deserve it.